


The Master Hacker: Starship Factory: Near the Entrance

by moody_trans_detective



Series: Rogueass Galaxy [35]
Category: Rogue Galaxy
Genre: ACAB, Gen, Robots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:54:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28420491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moody_trans_detective/pseuds/moody_trans_detective
Summary: Jaster, Lilika, and Steve hack their way into the factory.
Series: Rogueass Galaxy [35]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956043
Kudos: 1





	The Master Hacker: Starship Factory: Near the Entrance

“Fucking cops _again_ ,” muttered Jaster as they dashed up to the Starship Factory. He was beginning to really dislike this planet, and he’d spent so many years wondering what Zerard was like. Turns out it was a lot of tech and too many armed forces. He looked around, assessing the situation.

“Oh, my, such language, Mr. Rogue,” said Steve. “And to our dedicated peacekeeping personnel!”

Jaster glared at him before he could help it.

“Have I said something wrong?” asked Steve, holding up his hands.

Jaster breathed out, shook his head.

“We’ll talk later,” he said. He couldn’t be completely angry at Steve. He was a robot, after all, and Jaster didn’t know him well. He could have any kind of programming, maybe even one that wouldn’t let him see cops in any light other than good. Still, that was wrong if true. Steve should be able to make his own opinions.

Jaster knew very little about Steve, and the robot didn’t seem in the mood to share. He didn’t act like he cared to hide anything, just that most information about himself seemed irrelevant. When he’d caught up to Jaster and Lilika in the street, he’d apologized for being so tardy. After Simon had dodged the mother and child on the street, he’d gone back to the Dorgenark, to the engine room where he and Steve bunked. Steve had volunteered to come down and assist them.

“Zerard was once my home, too,” he’d told Jaster and Lilika. “I may be of some use.”

And now here they were, on the street amidst too many cops with way too many weapons, distracted again from renewing their visa.

“Who lets a Starship Factory be in control of the programming for a visa renewal, anyway?”

“It’s Daytron, kid,” said a nearby policeman, geared out in protective wear and weaponry. “They own practically everything here. You must not be from around here.”

“Indeed he is not,” said Steve. “This is none other than the Desert Claw!”

Jaster wished he could hide from what came next, the kerfluffle, the cops all staring at him, eyeing him up like competition. How many of them had been like Utoll, had done a year on Rosa, could see right through him? He didn’t know if it was better or worse to try to look hard. His heart fluttered with fear, but if anyone had clocked him as Rosan, they didn’t care if meant he was the Desert Claw and could handle their problem for them.

Cops were cowards. He glanced at Lilika, at Steve. Then he led them into the factory.

The terrible voice of Jupis Tooki McGanel echoed around them, taunting them.

“You can try, you can try! Keep sending them in, my robots will defeat you all!”

“What a nasty lizard,” said Lilika as the doors shut behind them.

Silence. They looked around the place, splattered with the blood of those who’d gone in before them and failed. Blood trailed in drag marks—Jaster wondered where the robots had taken the bodies. He didn’t care to find a room stacked full of them somewhere.

“This man is seriously sick,” he said. “Do you know anything about McGanel, Steve?”

“I—oh—I’m sorry, no.” Steve lifted his hand to his head as though to scratch it, made the motion but didn’t actually touch metal to metal. “He must be someone I never heard of. In fact—”

Lilika pulled her bow and trained the arrow on something in the shadows of an alcove.

“Quiet! There’s something there.”

The intercom above them crackled.

“Get in my way? You’re asking for it! See if you can defeat my bloodthirsty Max robots! Now with newly updated programming!” Jupis paused to laugh. “You can’t make me come out,” he added, then cut the line.

“They’re being controlled remotely,” said Steve.

Red, glowing eyes whirred to life around them. The robots were tall, yellow-orange metal, splattered with spurts and splashes of blood. One to Jaster’s left had a human finger stuck between its torso paneling. He glanced at Lilika.

“Ugh,” she said, and let loose the arrow.

Jaster pulled his sword and set to work. He soon realized just how clever Jupis was, why he’d been able to defeat those who’d come before. He moved the robots like they were chess pieces, pawns in a game. Others must have treated them solely as robots. Charging headlong into them would get you surrounded—like what they were doing to Steve right now. With a quick glance to see how Lilika was faring—she’d figured out the tactic too, thankfully—Jaster jumped in to get Steve out of there.

He circled around the back of first one Max, slashing it deep, the whine of metal shearing through metal making his stomach churn. Then, without finishing it off, he whirled to the next to inflict damage while the first reeled. It was like trying to surround them with just himself, which would never have worked if they hadn’t been large and he small and swift.

Another slash and oil spilled; sparks flew. The Max he’d hit jerked violently about, and the oil went up in flames. Jaster jumped back with a yelp.

Behind him, some hapless hunter, still alive, pulled themself toward the exit with one arm, a trail of blood like a banner behind them. Lilika brought down her opponents and offered assistance. As they finished off the last of the Max robots, panting and sweating, the terrible smell of grinding metal and burnt oil clogged the air around them.

“Steve,” asked Jaster. “You okay?”

“Yes, Mr. Claw.” Steve appeared to be screwing something back into his shoulder. He was scorched, but his body hadn’t been pierced. “This was not normal Max bot programming. I’m afraid Jupis is able to control all the robots in this facility.”

Jaster glanced at Lilika.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Adequate,” said Steve. “Let’s keep going.”

“Yeah,” said Jaster. “Let’s.”

But he was concerned. What Jupis had done to these robots looked serious, and everyone had been calling the guy a genius. Jaster wondered if Steve could keep the hacker out of his own programming, and what it would mean if he couldn’t.


End file.
